The Arizona sentinel., 1887-12-03
A CRAZY ENGINEER.
Thrilling Story OF the Lake Shore
Railroad.
, .dnig,5 Ride witt. Mad Engineer
Experience of Old BeB whit
Saker, r Veteran Central
Ersi-ctr

That was @ mighty .-..,iuC story
iR the Ere ing sr . other day
about Engineer Botsr..... who went
l0aG IN h-s locomotr .h on the
Wabash ro, out En- I.r. and. afer
.-~ariv w csina sac lied 10
jump f-os window. s.. cid Bob
Whitakc rzteran engineer OIL. The
Nv Yl-y. ntrE3 yesterday ..lu- it
wasu' tance 70 the expert
~a.r III crazy man al
trD thTotl,
Whiuakl- was urged TO teri his
story. and F. -ecded In the deliberate
- # old-fa '-- =tory-tellar-:
$50. : or the feo.-Joard are
rOt Al PASS without some thrilling
opiz z--zaz he began. s'and I've had
my out nothing ever made my
cap 2 my head and any heart sink
c.ef ny boots rs did the event Im
Eoi, tell you about il happened
O. Dc years or so ago. was run
mag the Lake Shore road then.
from eland 10 Chicago. I'd lost
ny Job engineer, So I shipped rs
firema! re engineer was d strong.
wiry maa. considerably larger than
myself, AIMED Ziel Franklin. He was
called one of the best engineers of the
West, but was trif1e eccentric. /
had been running as fireman with Ziel
for several months, when we started
one night D take The fast mail from
Cleveland 10 Chicago.
1T was irizzling, gloomy night,
very muo e what we've been hav-
ing in Ney Y k for a week, and dark
eli than n Lackawanna coal. We
had No. 8 biggest and newest
machine the ro,.t'. and terror for
speed. .egular engine. No. 1872,
had been abled for repairs. I'm not
naturally ',erstitious, like most rail
readers, but the weather had made me
kind o blue, Is'pose. or my supper
didn't set quite right, and as we pulled
out of the Cleveland station at 1915
p. m. 1 couldn't help thinking about
that thirteen in the engines number
Besides. itwas early spring, the ground
was soft from the rain, and the going
was very dangerous. Ziel seemed to
be depressed by the weather or some
thing else, just as 1 was. We logged
on and on into the inky darkness at q
steady pace of forty-five miles an hour
The heavy train of four mail and ex-
press cars, two day coaches and three
sleepers rumbled monotonously behind
us. Neither of us had spoken for an
hour. ZiC, VS. watching the track as
= he expected tito iyup and run away.
'Ta1 conjuring n- more blue devils
over the nasty i.e IT and Tho nraspncc
Of that unlucy thirteen the c- gine'
uUmb2r.
suddenly, just IS was wondering
for tie odd hundredln time whether
there was any thing in luck signs, any
way, Eel jumped from his box and
threw open the furnace door. He
s:oOd motionless for fully a minute,
glaring into the fire
+" Ohio! hats the way of it, eh?' he
cried at last turning sharply TO ME.
The flood of light from the red-hOt
Goals poured full on his face. The
features were horribly distorted, and
Lis eyes bulged from their sockets.
That's the way of it. eh?' he repeat
cd. glowering fiercely at me.
II guess so. Ziel. said !, not know
ing what elso 10 say. and trying to
force laugh. 1 had decided that he
was drunk
'Ohoi that's it. eh?' he roared
again. 1t is. eh' Ohol thought so. |
Well, make up the fire then.
Il was too astonishcd to stir for an
instant as the fire needed no IN akinp
rp. He noted my hesitation.
. Make up that frer he yelled.
Heap her up, and be quick about it.
dye hearP'
Without a word I threw in several
shovels of coal, Almost instantly the
cam gauge began to run up Zicl
roted 1t complacently. He poered out
Ilong the tracks again in grim silence. |
u